THE VOGUE OF INDICATORS THE EPISTEMOLOGICAL POSITION OF INDICATORS THE POLITICAL-MANAGERIAL PERSPECTIVE OF INDICATOR DEVFELOPMENT THE INTERPLAY OF POLICY AND METHODS STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK

Part One: Indicator Usage and Policy-Making INDICATORS AND POLICY-MAKING THEORY, MEASUREMENT AND POLICY-MAKING: THE TANGLED TRIANGLE INDICATORS AND POLICY PRACTICE: UNDERSTANDING, INTERESTS AND VALUES THE ROLE OF SOCIAL SCIENTISTS IN INDICATOR RESEARCH INDICATORS IN USE: SOME KEY ISSUES Institutionalisation of indicators The role of data agencies Standardisation versus consensus building CHANGING ETHOS OF INDICATOR USAGE THE FORMULAIC CULTURE OF FUNDING ALLOCATIONS NEO-LIBERALISM AND COMPETITIVE CULTURE NEW LABOUR AND DE-STANDARDISATION OF STATISTICS MODERNISATION AND EVIDENCE BASED POLICY-MAKING DISCRETIONARY LOCAL INTELLIGENCE EVIDENCE BASED GOVERNANCE: MORE REACHING OUT MANAGEMENT AND ORGANISATION OF NATIONAL STATISTICS BETTER INFORMATION STATISTICS: A MATTER OF TRUST AND QUALITY TOWARDS NATIONAL STATISTICS: TO BE OR NOT TO BE NEIGHBOURHOOD STATISTICS UNDER ONE ROOF EMERGING REGIONAL INTELLIGENCE POLICY, POLITICS AND STATISTICS PROVISION: THE ALLSOPP REVIEW

Part Two: Conceptual, Methodological and Analytical Issues DATA: A REQUIREMENT AND A PROBLEM DATA CHALLENGES UNCERTAINTY AND VOLATILITY IN THE DATA FIELD DATA ACCESSIBILITY AND DEVELOPMENT ISSUES FINE-GRAINED AND UP-TO-DATE SPATIAL DATA DIFFICULTIES IN MAPPING DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHIES DIFFICULT TO MEASURE ISSUES INDICATOR HARMONISATION: A MIXED BLESSING TECHNICAL OR ANALYTICAL SYNTHESIS OF INDICATORS WEIGHTING AND COMPOSITE INDICES SIMPLIFICATION AND STRUCTURE OF ANALYSIS DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION ISSUES Connection between theory and measurement Analysis and policy intelligence Tracking changes: benchmarking and trend analysis Use of soft and qualitative information INFLUENCE THE INFLUENTIALS: ACCESSIBLE PRESENTATION METHODOLOGICAL PROCESS OF INDICATOR DEVELOPMENT: A REVISIT PROCESS OF INDICATOR DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTUAL CONSOLIDATION: THEORY AND POLICY ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK IDENTIFICATION OF INDICATORS SYNETHESIS OF INDICATOR VALUES REMARKS

Part Three: Case Studies DEPRIVATION INDICATORS INTORDUCTION UNDERSTANDING DEPRIVATION CONCEPTUAL AND MEASUREMENT ISSUES The urban-rural dimension Area-based measures and area-based policies Vulnerable groups Spatial scales and administrative areas Weightings, statistical standardisation and transformation Measurement issues: do they matter? DEPRIVATION INDICES AND THEIR POLITICAL MEANING Policy towards places Index review and development Critical friends FINAL THOUGHTS URBAN AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS TRACKING URBAN AND REGIONAL CHANGE LIVABILITY AND QUALITY OF LIFE STUDIES MEASURING PLACE COMPETITIVENESS DEVOLUTION OF ECONOMIC POLICIES AND INSTITUTIONAL CHANGES The ambiguity of regional competitiveness and state of the region indicators From diagnostic to performance measures Policy devolution and institutional support CONCLUDING REMARKS SUSTAINABILITY AND PLANNING INDICATORS WICKED PROBLEMS AND OPEN CONCEPTS GLOCALISATION OF SUSTAINABILITY INDICATORS FROM SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TO SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES The folk movement of community indicators in the US Centrally directed community strategies in Britain More indicators for sustainable communities: the Egan Review MONITORING SPATIAL PLANNING STRATEGIES ESPON: political rationality or technical justification? Monitoring regional planning policies: national output indicators and central guidance Planning reforms and evidence based policy-making TENSIONS AND DILEMMAS CONCLUSION POLICY IDEOLOGY AND INDICATOR USAGE CENTRALISED DECENTRALISATION AND GLOCALISATION TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE AND DOMOCRACY WHERE WILL THE FUTURE LIE? References